Cooling tower



April 26, 1932.

L. T. MART COOLING TOWER vFiled Nov 17, 1930 Patented Apr. 26, 1932 V d UNITED?" STATE-Sf BATE LEON- r. MART, or- KANsAsor'r-sr; lvnssounr ooorme O ER c '7 Application filed November"17,1930. seriarno. may I This invention relates to cooling towers, particularly of the'dec k-equipped type, and

has for'its primaryobject the productionof a construction whichmaterially decreases the will also increase the efliciency of the tower under all conditions ofair velocity.

In the standard production of towers of the general'character under consideration,

the solid louvre" surrounding each splash deck must be positioned at a high angle in order to guard against loss of liquid splash ing entirely over the' top of the-louvres, and

this high angle necessarily H impairs the cir-' culation of air throughthe tower to eifect the cooling of'the liquid falling from deck to deck, particularly through the-fact that the restricted air outlet eif'ects the stratification ofthe air currentswithin the tower produc ing a-parctically dead airspace adjacent-the decks and progressively higher" velocities fromthe deck upwardly. The higher velocities entrain much vapor, while the lower velocities, dead air spaces and consequent local eddies, have practically'no cooling effect.

The prime object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a construction which will efficiently prevent the splashing of the, liquid over the tops of the sold louvres and will,*at

the same time,

increase in drift. loss byproducing'substantially' equal air velocities through the greater part'of the area between adjacent decks.

In ordinary towers, the air is turned in its course andcommences to speed up justatthe point of greatest flow of water from the overlying deck, inasmuch as thegwater,when the wind is blowing' with-a reasonable velocity,

always tends'to pileup on: the lee-side of the tower. As heretoforestatednit is at this point that the existingztowers tend to restrict the outflow'of airiwith the result that theveloci-i ty,*through a limited-area,.-thedrift loss, and

drift loss "now experienced with-towers of the; general type under consideration and which permit a larger volume of "air to circulate through the tower without an 4 resting on overlying'ysuch deck and supported by the .deckzcome V creased." Awfurther object of the inventionp therefore, is to provide 1v a construction "in;

which the airis permitted to flow equallyffori' practicallythe'f'ull space between-the decksi.

and in-which all I of the *air'passes beyond thel the turbulence within thegt i l ihi area ofgreater vdownflow of 2water,tbeforethere is any serious 'restri ctionri to th'e air =-fiowl' or turbulence in the air passingoutiof 'tl1e tower, this result'being accomplished byi pro i 5 zvidingbaliles' ataidistance beyond the ve'rticali plane of the superposed decks as W'lH 'hBlQln'i after appear.

lVith' the general objects named inr'view; I

and other as will hereinafter appear,theiin-t ventioir consists in certain novel and: useful? features of construction and combinations :of? i parts as hereinafter described and claimed;

and inorder that it'may befully understood;

Figure 1 is a; central vertical section takem through a cooling'to'wer embodying thifiIlL-l vention, said section being on. the line I -12 of Figu'r'e2j Figure 2' s a horizontal; section throughraz cooling tower embodying :tlie inventi'on,2said1 section'being taken on' the line II-II of*Fig framermembersis a second-splash prising spaced boards 5; 1 The ldesire'd-nunrf reference is to befhad tofthe accomp'anying! formed by the louvres 8 is relatively small,

the frame members 2 and 3, are a series of supports 7, the girders or supports 6 and 7 indirectly supporting boards 8 forming solid barriers or louvres surrounding each splash deck, the ordinary construction, not shown, being such thatthe angle with the vertical the upper ends of said louvres customarily overlapping or extending into thehorizontal prolongation of the superposed-deck, so that. the liquid splashing from deck to deck can not rebound over the tops of the barriers. The small angle required to prevent this splashing of theli'quid, results in further loss In efliciency in that such construction means that-the distance between the top of one,

louvre; and the bottom of the superposed louvre, is, small. Thus, a strong wind enter-' ing onesideof the tower ends to create a pressure within the tower and the air rushing through the confined channel at high velocity entrains' a large amount of moisture, resulting=in what :istechnically called drift loss, whilethe air below the high velocity stream ispracticallydead oris circling in local eddies within the tower. The cooling efiiciency of,

sucha construction is limitedto the high velocity stream effected with a great drift loss. The overall efficiency of such a tower is, therefore, :low.

: It will, thus, be obvious tha't erectors of such towers must compromise. in determining the angle of the solid barriers 8, the smaller the angle with the vertical, the less the loss by splashing, but such small angles interfere too greatly with air circulation byelfectingstrati- 'fication and local eddies, and increasevelocities leadingto drift losses as hereinbefore descr1bed,'althoughthe total air flow through I the; tower is relatively small.

' Ithas been found that these objections may be remedied and an efficient splash tower producedby the following construction, illustrated in the drawings.- The angle of the louvres 8 to .the vertical, is made large compared with'present practice, and the ends of said. louvres do not overlap the horizontal plane of the superposed deck. In order to pre'ventsplash loss, which would otherwise occur and to decrease drift loss, the space between the upper face of each louvre 8 and the lower .face of .the superposed louvre 8 is screened by a battle 9, which preferably comprises two sets of spaced boards arranged in overlapping relation to form a tortuous course for the air passing from the towerr It will be obvious with'a construction such as illustrated, that any water splashing on the baffle 9will be directed back onto the louvre 8 and hence to the deck, and that as the air passes out of the tower it will be forced to deposit a large percentage of its moisture on the baffle 9, and that such drift recovery will also be drained back to the solid louvre 8 and hence to the deck.

It will be evident that by increasing the area of the air outlet and'bafiling the same, the effect within the tower is to equalize velocities between the decks and thereby gain in the total volume of air passing through the tower as compared to the old'construction in which the outlet is materially restricted, as the air may exit through a relatively wide area without drift or splash losses, as distinguished from a narrow outlet, high veloc-- in the spirit of the invention and without thev ambit of the prior art.

- Iclaim:

1. The combination in a cooling tower,of a

series ofdecks adapted to receive liquid falling thereon, a solid louvre surrounding each.

deck andextending outwardly and upwardly therefrom to provide air passageways between adjacent louvres andbaftles interposed in said air passageways to remove liquid from the air passing therethrough and to insure return of said liquid to the cooling tower.

2. The combination in a cooling tower, of a series of decks adapted to receive liquid falling thereon, a. solid louvre surrounding each deck'and extending outwardly andv upwardly therefrom and terminating short of the'horizontal plane of the superposed deck to provide'air passageways between adjacent louvres, and baffles interposed in said air passageways to remove liquid from the air passing therethrough and to insure return of said liquid to the cooling tower.

V 3. In an atmospheric cooling tower comprising a cooling chamber provided with a series of perforate decks adapted to receive anddistribute liquid falling through the cooling chamber, theperimeter of each deck being bounded by upwardly inclined solid louvres whereby the air passageways between superposed decks and their corresponding louvres shall be of substantially the same area to avoid eddy currents between decks and a Venturi effect on the lee side of the tower, and 'baflies interposed in said louvre passageways to remove liquid from the air passing therethrough and to insure the return of said liquid to the cooling tower;

4c. The combination in an atmospheric cooling tower of a series of decks adapted to receive *liquidfalling thereon,- a solid louvre In testimony whereof I aflix my si nature.

a LEON T. ART. 

